Friday, November 8, 2013

Day 52 - Raining Home Day and visiting with Queen tonight

Raining on Long Acre

Today, hubby braved the elements while I did some housekeeping. I don't want to spend all day Monday cleaning, so I hoped to be able to get some things done today. Things that I'm hoping won't need to be redone on Monday.

Anyway, while I was playing Hetty Housekeeper, hubby braved the elements to take some pictures around our home base - Covent Garden.

Interior Court of Covent Garden

When he came back we fixed some hamburgers and soup for dinner, then left the flat and walked to the Dominion Theatre to see "We Will Rock You."

On the way, we went through Seven Dials, and they had their Christmas Lights up as well.

Seven Dials Christmas Lights

Seven Dials Christmas Lights

On May 12, 2002, the hit stage musical We Will Rock You, based on the songs of Queen, created by Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor together with British comedian Ben Elton opened at the Dominion Theatre. The show was due to close in October 2006 before embarking on a UK tour, but due to popular demand has been extended indefinitely. The show is currently in its 11th year and as such is the longest running musical ever to play at the Dominion Theatre.

Dominion Theatre

The musical tells the story of a group of Bohemians who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought, fashion, and live music in a distant future where everyone dresses, thinks and does the same. Musical instruments and composers are forbidden, and rock music is all but unknown.

The Future where everyone dresses and thinks alike

The Bohemians

The musical was originally panned by critics as having a ludicrous plot that merely allowed for one of Queen's songs to flow after another, and, in a way, they are right, but it's one of those musicals (similar to Let it Be and Jersey Boys) that pulls you out of your seats and makes you want to join in the fun. This is our second time seeing it, and a lot of changes have occurred since our first viewing, so some lines were changed to bring it more "up to date," and in line with things that have happened since it first opened.

I have to say that despite any short comings the show might have, and since it's been running in the same theatre for over 11 years now they clearly don't matter, that I enjoyed its sometimes silly and irreverent dialogue, and I stood up with everyone else.

The Killer Queen of "Global Soft"

Young Bohemian Lovers

Finale

I need to confirm this, but I believe the guitar soloist who was spotlighted at the end of the show during Bohemian Rhapsody was the original guitarist, Brian May. He has often appeared at certain performances of We Will Rock You, and at the end of the show, his voice was heard requesting money for one of the charities the show supports. This is Veteran's Week in London, with the Queen placing a wreathe of poppies against the Centotaph on Remembrance Sunday, so a lot of the West End shows are requesting money for Veterans and other charities. I had thought that perhaps Brian May's voice was a recording, but as I was collecting information for this post, I discovered he has made many appearances at the end of We Will Rock You by emerging through smoke and playing his well-known solo.

Not sure how I can find out, but I will do my best. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture of Brian and his famous guitar.

Brian May

In addition, I'd like to leave a small tidbit of information about the band Queen, and their lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury.

Freddie Mercury

Queen is a British rock band formed in London in 1970, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals). Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works, incorporating further diverse styles into their music.

Sadly, Queen's lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) died in his Kensington home of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging that he had the disease. He was only 46 years old.

I'm also going to embed a promotional video for the show that was released today. If you listen to it, please be aware that the music is very loud, so you might want to turn the volume down on your computer.

1 comment:

I've seen We Will Rock You, in Las Vegas! It was great! Very engaging. It's a play/concert I would see again.

The Christmas lights around Covent Garden are beautiful. How terrific that you get to see them go up. We don't have any up here yet, though they have changed our favorite cable music station to jazzy Christmas carols as of November 5. We still plan on "celebrating" the US Thanksgiving in a small way this year, though we already had Thanksgiving Monday in October. It's a new tradition we'll have trouble accommodating for awhile.

Monday is Remembrance Day here, and we get the day off from work, so this is a 3-day weekend. It's nice to have an extra day off about once every month. The Canadians do that pretty well.

About Me

Kathryn R. Blake has been writing romantic fantasies for over twenty years.
In addition to her writing, Kathryn enjoys reading, traveling (London especially), crewel needle work, and playing with graphics on her web site.